May 1981 - August 1982
Mick Maurer in Quebec, Canada
Laval University, Spiritan House rue Holland in Sillery, Noviatiate Spiritan in Farnham; Quebec, Canada
Five of the novices and Father Myles Faye, CSSp in front of the two houses which served as
the North American Novitiate for the Congregation of the Holy Ghost in Farnham, Quebec
Father Myles Faye, CSSp and Mick Maurer across from
the parish in Farnham, Quebec where vows would be
pronounced
John Wannamaker, Pere Michel Last, CSSp, Don Fuller, John Van Dyk, Dan
Sormani, and Mick Maurer around the Novitiate table in Farnham, Quebec
Don Fuller, Dan Sormani, and Mick Maurer celebrating an
American National Holiday in Farnham, Quebec
First Row: John Van Dyk, Paul McAuley, John Wannamaker, and  
Gilbert Doddatto (Trans-Canada Province)
Second Row: Pere Michelle Last, CSSp (Asst. Novice Master),
Dan Sormani (USA-West),  Fr. Jerry CSSp (Novice Master), Denise
Hurtubise (Canadian Province), Fr. Franz Timmermans, CSSp
(Superior General), and Mick Maurer (USA-East)
On Profession of Temporary Vows in the Congregation of the
Holy Ghost. 31 Juillet 1982
Post Profession celebration at the Old Munich Restaurant and
Beer Garten in Old Montreal
Paul McAuley and Mick Maurer on a cross-country ski outing in Quebec
A neighbor in Farnham, Giles, and Mick Maurer
A neighbor wanting to play when I was picking vegetables
Mick Maurer Christmas 1980 in Farnham, Quebec
Le Collège St-Alexandre de la Gatineau

A high school run by the Canadian
Provice in Quebec, across from
Ottawa.  Where Mick Maurer would
in 1983 at the North American Spiritan
Educators Conference in
Ottawa/Gatineau, Canada give the talk,
"The Educational Theory of Claude
Francois Poullet-Des Places."
He was the first seminarian in
temporary vows to be asked to give
the address.
Farnham, a town in Missisquoi county, Quebec, on the Yamaska river and on the
Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railways, 17 miles from St. Johns, and 43 miles
from Montreal East. It was incorporated as a town in 1876, and its name is taken from the
little town of Farnham in Surrey, England. It is an important industrial, commercial, and
railway centre, and its principal establishments are a beet-sugar refinery, a peat bog, a
large creamery, an experimental tobacco farm controlled by the federal government, and
several mills and factories. It has an intermediate school and it publishes two weekly
newspapers, Leader and Missisquoi; the latter is bilingual.

The city of Farnham takes its name from the township (Canada) of Farnham. The latter is
one of the few townships being proclaimed before 1800, and was named as such in
remembrance of Farnham, UK. The first "Farnhamiens", mostly Loyalists from the United
States, first came there in 1800.

On December 28th 1876, Farnham got the status of "town". On March 8th, 2000, the town
of Farnham and the municipality of Rainville merged together to form the new "City of
Farnham". The total population is now numbered at 7,955 inhabitants.

Farnham is also the site of a small military training camp, used primarily by the Canadian
Forces Leadership and Recruit School and local militia.
Rev. Claude Francois Poullart des Places, CSSp
1679-1709
Original founder of the Congregation of the
Holy Ghost
Ven. Francis Mary Paul Libermann,
CSSp Founder of the Congregation of
the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which
was afterwards merged
in the Congregation of the Holy Ghost.
Université Laval (Laval University) is the oldest centre of education in Canada, and was the first institution in North America to offer
higher education in French. Its main campus is located in Quebec City, Quebec, the capital of the Province, on the outskirts of the
historic city.

The origins of the university are the Séminaire de Québec founded in 1663 by Monseigneur François de Laval, the first bishop of
New France. The Séminaire de Québec was granted a Royal Charter in 1852 by Queen Victoria, creating Université Laval. In 1878,
the university opened a second campus in Montreal, which later became the Université de Montréal (University of Montreal) in 1920.
While the main campus moved out from Séminaire de Québec since then, the architecture school returned to that heritage building
(now affectionately referred to as Le Vieux Séminaire) in 1989.

Laval's main campus is considered one of the most striking in Quebec. It covers 1.2 km² and has over 30 buildings, all linked by 10
km of underground walkways, which are frequently used particularly in the winter, when temperatures drop below the freezing point.
Of the campus lands, 56 per cent are wooded areas, grasslands, and sports fields. The campus is home to a plethora of different
flora and fauna, including some 67 species of deciduous and coniferous trees and 60 different species of birds.

Mick Maurer attended the French Language School at Université Laval prior to attending the Novitiate in Farnham.  He lived in
Rue Holland Spiritan Residence in Sillery and would walk to class each day.
Château Frontenac.
1967 May: invited for the Montréal Expo, French President Charles de Gaulle ends a speech with his notorious
"Vive le Québec libre!" He cancels his visit to Ottawa, following a protest from the Canadian government; Oct:
René Lévesque leaves the Liberal party and founds the Sovereignty-Association Movement

Rise of the Parti Québécois

1968 creation of franco-Québec office for youth June: Prime Minister P.E. Trudeau faces rioting crowd on Saint-
Jean Baptiste Day; Oct.: Creation of the PQ, which absorbs the small independentist movements; Nov:
formation of Ministry of Immigration

1969 July: Increasing number of riots and bombs as politicians adopt an increasing number of anti-
democratic measures vis-à-vis francophones; Oct. - Dec.: James Cross, head of the British Trade
Commission in Montréal, and subsequently Pierre Laporte, Québec Minister of Labour and Manpower,
kidnapped by the FLQ; Oct. 17. Trudeau invokes War Measures Act, imprisoning all those opposing federalist
ideas. Pierre Laporte is found, assassinated. Cross is freed Dec. 3.

1973 Oct: Bourassa increases his majority as the Union nationale collapses. The PQ, with 6 seats, becomes
the official opposition

1976 Nov 15: PQ wins election and forms Québec’s government

1980 Québec referendum announced, and lost -- only 40% vote oui.
René Lévesque (August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987)
was a reporter, a minister of the government of Quebec,
Canada, (1960 – 1966), the founder of the Parti
Québécois political party, and 23rd Premier of Quebec
(November 25, 1976 – October 3, 1985). He was the first
French-Canadian political leader since confederation to
attempt, through a referendum, to negotiate political
independence for Quebec. Lévesque was a recipient of
the title Grand Officer of the French Legion of Honour.
René Lévesque
“Vive le Québec libre!” (Long live free Quebec!).bellowed
Charles de Gaulle from the balcony of Montreal’s city hall
on July 24, 1967.
In 1759, the famous battle of
the Plains of Abraham would
alter the course of the
colony's history that had
been, until then, relatively
uneventful. The English won
the battle and took control of
the city, then later the
colony. The following year,
France signed the Treaty of
Paris, thus transferring
ownership of New France to
England and putting an end
to the Seven Year War.
Maison Bienheureux Jacques-Desire Laval in
Rawdon, Quebec where we spent time away from
the Novitiate in Farnham.  We also spent New Years
in the forests and snows of St-Espirit, snow shoeing
and toe dancing.  One day a month we were allowed
to go into Montreal as a group.  We also attended
Easter celebration with all the Spiritan seminarians
from Pittsburgh, Chicago, San Antonio, Toronto and
Montreal in Bethel Park, PA.  I was also granted
permission to fly home to St. Louis to attend my
sister Lynn's wedding in the Old Cathedral to Roger
Schallom, and to Pittsburgh for Fr. Frank
Chiaramont, CSSp Golden Jubilee.
Marcel Lefebvre

On July 26, 1962 the Chapter General of the Holy Ghost Fathers elected the former Archbishop of Dakar, Marcel Lefebvre as Superior General. Lefebvre was widely respected
for his experience in the mission field and his ability to deal with the Roman Curia. On August 7, 1962 Lefebvre was given the titular archiepiscopal see of Synnada in Phrygia.

Lefebvre first instituted a major reform of the seminaries run by the Holy Ghost Fathers. He transferred several professors whom he considered too Modernist (relativistic,
liberal) to non-educational posts. He ordered books by certain modern theologians, including Yves Congar and Marie-Dominique Chenu to be removed from the seminary
library, finding them too Neo-Modernistic. (One book of Chenu was inserted into the Index Librorum Prohibitorum in the 1940s.)

Lefebvre was increasingly criticized by influential pro-reform members of his large religious congregation who considered him out-of-step with modern Church leaders and the
demand of bishops' conferences, particularly in France, for drastical revision and reform. A general chapter of the Holy Ghost Fathers was convened in Rome in September
1968. The first action of the chapter was to name several moderators to lead the chapter's sessions instead of Lefebvre. Lefebvre then handed in his resignation as Superior
General to His Holiness Pope Paul VI. He would later say that it had become impossible for him to remain Superior of an Order which no longer wanted him nor listened to him.
On October 28 a new superior general was elected to replace him; the new superior general proved willing to allow the demands for reforms.

Lefebvre left the Holy Ghost Fathers and went on to found the Society of Saint Pius X in Ecône (Diocese of Fribourg), Switzerland in 1970, for which on 30 June 1988 he
consecrated four bishops. On the Holy See's declaration that he was thereby automatically excommunicated, and the subsequent questioning of that declaration, Ecône
Consecrations.
When crossing the border at Detroit, on my way to Chicago, the US Customs agent grilled me about why I had so much luggage.  Explaining I was in attending Novitiate
for the Congregation of the Holy Ghost, he asked me my relationship to Marcel Lefebvre.  Eventually after further questions and inspection of my belongings I was
allowed to proceed.
Both prior to and after profession I made several trips back to Montreal, Toronto and to Ottawa for meetings and conferences.
The Spiritian High School Neil McNeil in Toronto